With the inaugural d*** Smith Auckland Nines competition about to get underway, several questions still persist regarding the new tournament — the biggest of which is exactly how are teams going adjust to the new format?

Four less defenders on the field will undoubtedly mean more space for outside backs to exploit, but the tactics are bound run far deeper than that. Where players defend, how forwards use the offload and when players kick in the tackle count are all big questions, and for the most part, teams and fans are in the dark as to how to best play the competition.

In order to help shed some light on the style of football we’re likely to see over the weekend, Wests Tigers caught up with the members of our squad to talk Nines tactics.

Fullback: James Tedesco, Kurtis Rowe
“It’s going to be harder to take control. Once you take control of one side of the field you’ve got to sweep around and take control on the other side, so there’s lots of running and lots of hard work. It’ll be a bit different at fullback — I was talking to Mick [Potter] about how to play the game as a fullback and ways I can attack or get in the line or sweep around, so there’s lots of different ways to go about it. There’ll be a lot of kicking early I’ll have to cover and a lot of defence — a lot of one-on-one tackles — so it’ll be tough but very interesting.” — Tedesco

Winger: Marika Koroibete, Pat Richards
“Having more space on the field will be a real benefit for me because I’ve got a bit of speed. The biggest difference is you have to be fit. There’s much more space on the field and the pace [of the game] is a lot faster than an NRL game.” — Koroibete

Centre: Bodene Thompson, Delouise Hoeter
“There’s going to be a lot more running — a lot more kilometres, that’s for sure. I think you’ve got to trust your teammates to be there more and to commit yourself if you’re doing something. I think defence is just trying to trust your teammate that he’s going to get to wherever he says he will. It’s going to be a big difference with the space and area you have to work with.” — Hoeter

Halves: Blake Austin, Mitchell Moses
“It’s probably not going to be too much different [to a normal game] but there’s likely going to be a lot more one-on-one tackles and a lot of offloads. For my game personally, I’ll have to take on the line a lot more. I don’t have to cart the team around as much, it’s more just taking the line on and doing what you have to do. Me and Blake have a pretty good combination at training — we play pretty similar games to each other — so should be pretty easy.” — Moses

Hooker: Robbie Farah, Manaia Cherrington
“Personally for me, I think I’ll find it a lot easier. Just having more space to work with around the ruck and having the big boys around will help me a lot. Robbie Farah’s helped me out a lot this pre-season so I’m looking forward to seeing how he plays the tournament.” — Cherrington

Second-row: Curtis Sironen, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Cory Paterson, Adam Blair
“Having speed will help with a bit more open space, but I also think there’s a role for the bigger blokes to lay a few lines, attract a few blokes and maybe get an offload. You’ve got to be solid in the middle defending. We’ve got to try a little bit of second-phase play and try and get a few offloads here and there. And who knows — maybe I might even grab myself a try!” — Paterson

“I think the key is getting to our set plays and laying the line for our backs. We’ve got to take the hard runs and be trying to get offloads — just trying to be explosive.” — Murdoch-Masila

“Obviously having three less defenders on the field there’s going to be some more opportunity to run the ball. I think the quicker players are going to dominate as well as blokes who can offload and those sorts of things. Things like second-phase play and pushing up in support and those sort of things you have to do in Nines; hopefully I can take that back and use this season.” — Sironen

Front-row: Aaron Woods, Martin Taupau and James Gavet
“We know that there’s going to be a lot of drifting in defense and not a lot of squaring up so we’re going to have to do a lot more tackling in the middle of the field. It’s going to be exciting to watch the backs out on the edge, of course, but there’s a lot of guys in the forwards that can do offloads and are really special. You’ve almost got to expect the unexpected.” — Gavet

“You’ve just got to make one-on-one tackles — if you miss that one-on-one tackle or someone offloads then you’re gone already. We’re also not sure how to work with the markers. There’s a lot of backs out there that we get to run at all day so it’s not too bad in attack. I think we’re looking to go through the middle and then go wide and pull defenders in that way.” — Woods

“To be honest, we’ve got a lot of tricks up our sleeve and I don’t want to give too much away. It’s more just go-forward for the backs and lay the platform and see what they can do in space. It’ll be a lot quicker and [there’ll] be a lot more one-on-one tackles, so it’ll be a lot harder for us big boys to move around but that’s what we train for.” — Taupau